Samudra Manthan
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Story on Samudra Manthan
Have you ever heard of the game of tug of war? In this game, there are two teams pulling the rope from each end until one team falls down. Indeed an entertaining game. Once God also played a similar kind of game. It was more of a churning game. A similar tug of war happened as per our Indian mythological stories too. It was between the Gods and the Demons and they were pulling a long snake. That is the story of Samudra Manthan.
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Sagar Manthan, literally translated to "Churning Of The Sea" is another name for Samudra Manthan. It is one of the most crucial periods in the creation of gods and goddesses.
Indra, the Kind of Gods once disrespected a sage called Durvasa. The sage was so angry with Indra’s pride and arrogance that he cursed Indra to lose all his fortune and strength. Not only him but the other Gods also lost their strengths. Asuras or the Demons who always waited for a chance to attack the Gods, found this the right time to trouble them. They attacked the kingdom of Gods are chased them away from there.
Gods ran to Lord Brahma to seek help but he sent them to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu suggested that they could get back all they have lost only if they could churn the milky ocean, Kshira Sagar. They could also get back their powers by drinking “Amrita”, – The Nectar Of Life also in the ocean. Churning the ocean would require a lot of power which the Gods had now lost. So Lord Vishnu suggested that they could make peace with the asuras and get their help in churning the ocean. But the question aroused that why would the Asuras help them. So the Gods promised to share the gold they would get by churning the ocean with Asuras. The Asuras agreed. All the Gods and Asuras gathered near the Milky ocean.
Gods ran to Lord Brahma to seek help but he sent them to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu suggested that they could get back all they have lost only if they could churn the milky ocean, Kshira Sagar. They could also get back their powers by drinking “Amrita”, – The Nectar Of Life also in the ocean. Churning the ocean would require a lot of power which the Gods had now lost. So Lord Vishnu suggested that they could make peace with the asuras and get their help in churning the ocean. But the question aroused that why would the Asuras help them. So the Gods promised to share the gold they would get by churning the ocean with Asuras. The Asuras agreed. All the Gods and Asuras gathered near the Milky ocean.
Now for churning they required some tools. Hence, Mount Mandara became their huge churning rod and for the rope, it was a long snake called Vasuki. The mountain stood in the middle of the ocean and Vasuki tied himself around the mountain. The churning began but the mountain was sinking into the ocean. Immediately Lord Vishnu came to the rescue as his second avatar of a Tortoise and held the mountain straight up on his back. The churning went on and on. After a while, the snake felt dizzy and exhausted.
Suddenly there was a cloud of darkness and everything around seemed so weak that everyone started falling into the water one by one. They looked around and saw deep poison coming from the bottom of the ocean. This poison could destroy the entire universe. The Gods and the Demons prayed to Lord Vishnu to save them. Lord Vishnu said that only Lord Shiva could save them now.
Lord Shiva appeared and at once drank up the entire poison. Devi Parvati, Lord Shiva’s wife, held his throat to avoid the poison entering his body. All the poison was stuck in his throat and it turned blue. That’s how Lord Shiva got his name “Neel Kantha” & “Visha Kantha”.
When the sky cleared up, the churning started again. After a thousand years, a number of things started emerging from the bottom of the ocean. Kamadhenu, the wish-granting cow, Uchhaishravas, the 7-headed horse, Airavata, the white five-headed elephant, Parijat, the tree with never-fading blossoms, many more divine things appeared which were all distributed between Gods and Asuras. Finally, Dhanvantari, the divine physician emerged, holding a pot of nectar. There was a fight between the teams to get the “Amrita”. One of the Asuras took the pot and ran. Lord Vishnu took the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini and tricked the Asuras to give the pot of nectar. One of the Asuras took the Nectar and drank it but was immediately caught by the Gods. Finally, after the fight, it was the devas who got the Nectar.
Listen to this episode of Indian mythological story and other god stories on “Indian Epics & Puranas: Mythological Stories For Kids” available on Chimes Radio App.
